The Castle on Deadman's Island (12 page)

Mr. Lonsberg got up and introduced himself, his wife, Crescent, and Charlie. The sergeant nodded at each of them. Charlie said, “Hey, Simmie, how's it going?”

“Fine, thank you, Charlie,” replied the sergeant, trying to maintain the dignity he felt his position called for.

“I've known Simmie since Grade One,” Charlie told them. “Never thought he'd turn out to be a policeman. He was a heller back then. Why, I remember the time –”

“The coroner's waiting in the other room,” the sergeant said quickly. “He's here to examine the skeleton. You'd better come with me, Ruby. He may have some questions for you.”

When he reached the circus room, the sergeant was nonplussed to discover not only Ruby Ruff, but all the others as well, crowding in behind her. Before he could react, Daniel was explaining to the coroner how he'd accidentally pulled the horse's tail and discovered the trapdoor, and Charlie was saying he'd been hearing rumors of a secret passage for years, but it took these boys to find it. There wasn't much the
sergeant could do but fade into the background while the coroner took over.

“Right then, open her up,” Dr. Patterson said, as if he were talking about a patient on the operating table.

Daniel yanked the tail, and those who hadn't seen it before watched in fascination turning to horror as the trapdoor swung slowly upright, revealing the skeleton. The coroner bent to examine it.

Graham spoke up. “The trapdoor is on a timer, Doctor. The power should be turned off, or it will close again in a few minutes.”

“See to that, Sergeant, will you?” Dr. Patterson said. “And bring me a flashlight.”

Looking somewhat bewildered, Sergeant Simpson said in a quiet voice, “Do you have a flashlight, Ruby? And,
uh,
where exactly is the main power switch?”

“No need to shut off all the power, Sergeant,” Neil said. “Just take out the fuse for circuit thirty-three. Would you like me to show you where it is?”

“No!” the sergeant snapped. “That won't be necessary.” He left with Mrs. Ruff, and, a short time later, the lights in the room went out. He returned with a flashlight, which he handed to the coroner. It was the one, Neil saw, that he and Graham had used in the tunnel until the batteries went dead, but he decided he'd better not mention that.

The coroner switched the flashlight on. Nothing happened. He sighed impatiently. “Dead batteries! A fine situation, Sergeant. Don't the police have flashlights that work, for heaven's sake?”

The sergeant reddened. “I,
uh,
didn't think that –”

“It's okay, Simmie, I always carry one with me,” Charlie said. He produced a flashlight from one of his voluminous pockets, untangled an assortment of fishhooks and line, and handed it to the coroner.

“It's obviously a child,” the coroner said, when he finished his examination. “Hard to tell the exact age or how long it's been there. A decade perhaps – I need to study it more thoroughly in the laboratory. I'll send some men to pack it up properly. There'll have to be an inquest.” He shone the light down the stairs. “Anything else I should see down there while I'm here, Sergeant?”

The sergeant shook his head. “It's just a tunnel leading to the river.”

“You've been all through it?”

“Uh …
no, but –”

“How do you know then? Maybe there's some evidence down there that would tell us what happened. Or even another skeleton.”

“But these two boys said they'd been as far as they could go,” the sergeant protested. “The river end of the tunnel is flooded, you see, Doctor, and –”

“Go and look for yourself, Sergeant,” the doctor said. “And be quick about it. I haven't got all day.” He fished a watch from his vest pocket and frowned at it.

“I'll come with you, Simmie,” Charlie said. “You'll need my flashlight.”

Grudgingly, the sergeant agreed, and the two of them disappeared down the stairs.

While they were gone, the coroner learned what he could about the history of the castle and the previous owners from Mrs. Ruff and Mr. Lonsberg, paying particular attention to the story of the missing boy. He kept pulling out his pocket watch and checking the time. “Taking them long enough,” he grumbled. “I'm a busy man.”

Finally the sergeant returned with Charlie.

“Well, find anything?” the coroner demanded impatiently, when the sergeant's head popped up above the trapdoor.

“Just these shoes,” Sergeant Simpson said, and he produced a pair of low-heeled, leather woman's shoes. “I found them in the water at the far end of the tunnel.”

“Why those are Miss Stone's!” Mrs. Ruff said.

They all stared at the shoes, as if expecting them to speak up and explain themselves.

“How would Miss Stone's shoes get there?” Mrs. Ruff said. “She's never been in the tunnel – she didn't even know there was a tunnel, none of us did…. Heavens, you don't suppose …?”

“The current would have carried them in, Ruby,” Charlie said. “It sweeps right by the cave. There's all kinds of stuff washed in down there – candy wrappers, cigarette packages, you name it.”

Graham felt sick. He turned to Sergeant Simpson. “Now will you believe me and bring in a police diver?”

“Hmm,”
the sergeant said. He was running out of excuses. “Still, a pair of shoes doesn't prove anything. They might have been accidentally kicked off the dock, or lost from a boat.”

“But …,” Graham turned to appeal to the coroner, “Doctor, don't you think there should be an investigation?”

“Not my business,” the coroner said. “Up to the police. I only deal in dead bodies.” He looked at his watch again and briskly packed his bag.

“Your aunt is an excellent swimmer,” Mrs. Ruff reminded Graham. “She must have dropped her shoes in the water by accident, that's all. She's probably enjoying the sun somewhere down south by now.”

Graham didn't look convinced. Neil could tell by his grim expression that they had more detective work on Deadman's Island ahead of them.

“You can turn the power back on so the trapdoor closes, Sergeant,” the coroner said. “And keep it closed until my men get here. I don't want anyone touching that skeleton.”

Neil watched the trapdoor descend over the skeleton again. The eye sockets seemed to be staring up at him in mute appeal.

As the coroner headed for the door, Neil followed him out. “Sir,” he said, when they were out of earshot of the others, “could I ask you something?”

The doctor stopped. “Yes, what is it?” Again he pulled out his pocket watch. “Make it snappy.”

“The thing is, sir, I promised the boy he would be returned to his family.”

The doctor frowned. “What boy?”

“The boy in there … you know, on the stairs.”

“You mean the skeleton?”

Neil nodded.

“Let me get this straight,” the doctor said brusquely. “You promised a skeleton, which has been lying there for a decade or so, that it would be returned to its family – whoever they are?”

“It was its …
uh,
its spirit, I promised. You see, sir, I have a feeling it's still here – the spirit, I mean. Probably because the boy thought he'd been abandoned and nobody wanted him, so when he died, his spirit didn't go wherever it is spirits go. It stayed here, sort of a lost soul…. So I was hoping, after you were through examining his skeleton, you could send it home for a proper burial.”

“I see.” The coroner's expression softened. “Well, the police will have to locate the family in any case, so … I'll tell you what … Neil, is it? I'll see that the skeleton is packed up and sent to them for burial, if the family is willing. I promise you that.”

“Thank you,” Neil said.

“No, thank
you,”
the coroner replied. He tucked his
watch back in his vest pocket and walked slowly away, turning back once to look at the boy standing in the hallway.

“I'll need a statement from each of you,” Sergeant Simpson said officiously, producing his battered notebook. “And your addresses and phone numbers. You may be called upon as witnesses if there's an inquest.” No one really expected that to happen, but the sergeant wasn't taking any chances – he was already in the coroner's bad books.

“I'll talk to you – one at a time – in the kitchen, starting with Mrs. Ruff,” he said. “The rest of you, wait here until I send for you.”

As they left the room, Neil heard Sergeant Simpson tell Mrs. Ruff that he'd phoned two of the owners to tell them about the skeleton. Snyder and Grimsby both denied any knowledge of the underground passage or the skeleton. However, they'd agreed to meet the sergeant there the following day for a routine interview.

While they waited their turn with the sergeant, Graham stood apart from the others, looking forlorn. Neil went over to him. “Are you all right, Graham?”

“It's those shoes,” Graham said. “Now I'm sure something's happened to Aunt Etta, and it's all my fault. If I'd come sooner, I could have warned her.” He stared out the window. “She used to drop in at our
house on her way to meetings. She was constantly hurrying somewhere – the Historical Society council meetings – but she always took the time to ask me about school before rushing out again.”

“Don't blame yourself,” Neil said. “You came as soon as you could. Besides, we don't know anything for sure.”

Graham shook his head. “I knew those guys were up to something, and I didn't warn her.”

No point in arguing with him, Neil thought. Graham would have to work this out himself. “What's done is done,” he said. “Now we have to find out if anything
did
happen to her on the island, and if so, what. If we don't do it, no one will.”

Graham turned away from the window. “You're right. That sergeant certainly isn't going to, so it's up to us. And if Aunt Etta was attacked on the island, there must be clues somewhere. Which means we've got to keep looking – despite having to cope with Mrs. Ruff.”

“Maybe we can get her on our side.”

“That'll take some doing, the way she feels about me.”

True enough, Neil thought. And they'd have to avoid being seen by Grimsby or Snyder when they arrived.

Mrs. Ruff came back from the kitchen and announced it was Charlie's turn with the sergeant. Neil noticed that she then went off in a corner with Crescent and the two of them had their heads together, talking.

Neil, Graham, and Daniel were the last to be interviewed. Sergeant Simpson called them in together.

“I've already heard all I want to from you three,” he said. “Mr. and Mrs. Lonsberg, however, seem convinced you're not troublemakers – though where they get that idea, I don't know – so I'm not going to press the trespassing charges. You're free to go,” he added reluctantly.

After the sergeant left, Mrs. Ruff heaved a great sigh. “What a shock finding that skeleton!” she said, to no one in particular. “And to think of all the times I've mopped that floor and the poor boy's skeleton right there underneath it. And then finding Miss Stone's shoes in the tunnel … I just wish she'd left a forwarding address, so I could make sure she's all right.”

Amen to that, Neil thought.

They said good-bye to Mrs. Ruff and made their way to the cove, where the launch was anchored. Charlie squinted at the sun, which was halfway down the western sky. “I guess it's too late to do much fishing today,” he said.

“I don't feel like it anyway, after seeing that unfortunate child's skeleton,” Mrs. Lonsberg said. “You might as well take us back to the cottage, Charlie. Crescent and the boys can come with us, too.”

“Actually,” Graham said, “I'd like to stay another night at the campsite on Lovesick Island.”

Mrs. Lonsberg looked at him in surprise. “But won't your parents be expecting you home?”

“It's okay. I told them we might stay longer if the weather was good,” Graham said.

“And I'll stay with him,” said Neil.

Then Daniel spoke up. “I'd like to stay too. I'm getting to like camping, believe it or not.”

Good for Daniel, Neil thought. He knows we're going to keep investigating, and he wants to be part of it. Besides, if he's here, he's not with Crescent.

“But, Daniel,” his grandfather said, “there's been a change in our plans. We have to leave next week to get back to New York.”

“We do?” Daniel said, surprised. “I thought we were staying all summer.”

“I got a call from Washington yesterday,” Mr. Lonsberg said. “The government wants some of us retired folks to come back to help with the war effort. ‘Dollar-a-year men,' they're calling us. I'll be looking for missing freight cars carrying everything from ammunition to airplane engines.”

“Hey that's neat, Gramps,” Daniel said.

“Your grandfather's going to be doing an important job,” Mrs. Lonsberg said. “Do you know that freight cars get lost regularly, and nobody knows where they are?”

“Like lost children, you mean?”

“Sort of,” his grandfather said. “Sometimes cars get shunted onto sidings by mistake and left there. I'll be like a train spotter, out looking for them. Anyway, I'm proud to help our country – somehow it didn't seem right to be up here fishing all summer when my country's been attacked. But it means we have only a few more days of fishing. You don't want to miss your last chance to catch a big bass, do you?”

“Uh,
thanks, Gramps,” Daniel said, “but I kind of like camping on Lovesick. Maybe I'll leave the fishing to you and Gran.”

“Well, all right,” his grandfather said. “But don't go bothering that nice Mrs. Ruff.”